Tony Lowden, Jimmy Carter's pastor at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, is set to join the Trump administration.
On Friday President Donald Trump is expected to announce Lowden as the executive director of the administration's Federal Interagency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry. In that position, he will advise the White House and implement and coordinate efforts to aid released prisoners who are reentering life and the workforce.
"It is amazing," Lowden said. "Only God can do something like this that allows me to be the spiritual advisor for one president and an advisor to another president on criminal reform, from two separate parties."
Prison reform and workforce development are among Trump's priorities. In 2018, he established the agency Lowden will head and he signed the First Step Act to address reentry.
"This is right in my wheelhouse. This is a great opportunity to help those who are in our prisons who are coming home," Lowden said. "There is a no bigger crisis that is facing the nation right now than mass incarceration."
Building on steps that former President Barack Obama had made, Trump's First Step Act reduced mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses, retroactively reduced the sentences for crack and powder cocaine, and expanded ways for inmates to shorten sentences by demonstrating good behavior.
"The president has been totally committed to second chances, and this is that next step to pave the way," Ja'Ron Smith, a deputy assistant to the president told McClatchy Newspaper about Lowden's appointment.
During Sunday's Super Bowl, the Trump 2020 reelection campaign aired an ad focusing on Alice Johnson, a black woman who had served 21 years in prison for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense. The ad implied that Johnson was released as part of the First Step Act, but Trump had reduced her prison sentence at the urging of Kim Kardashian West six months prior to the signing of the bill.
Lowden, who was referred to by the White House as the "reentry czar," said he will work directly with former inmates like Johnson. He will also work with businesses, law enforcement agencies, and faith-based groups to integrate former inmates back into local communities. It will also be a chance, Lowden said, to help them with housing and employment.
Lack of jobs and meaningful work are leading causes of recidivism, experts say.
"The First Step Act can change our country forever," Lowden said. "That legislation can help men and women be reunited with their families, especially the non-violent inmate that can use a second chance. The question we have to ask is how do we want them to come home? What do we want them to come home to?"
Those are questions Lowden has been grappling with for years.
Before arriving at Maranatha, he worked on prison reform initiatives in Georgia. He is the former project coordinator for the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which expanded alternative sentencing options for local judges and strengthened the ability of probation officers to respond to violators. He also served under former Gov. Nathan Deal as the director of the faith and justice initiative for the Governor's Office of Transition Support and Reentry.
Lowden's appointment comes at a time when the two presidents he advises are at odds.
President Carter, a Democrat, has been a staunch critic of Trump.
As recently as last week, Carter, who is still recovering from brain surgery, blasted Trump's proposed Middle East Peace plan, saying that it "undercuts prospects for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians."
Last summer, at his annual Carter Center retreat, Carter said Trump's presidency was illegitimate, prompting Trump to respond by calling Carter a "nice man," but a "terrible president."
Lowden, who will remain at Maranatha, said he has not gotten pushback on his decision to work with the Trump administration from the Carters.
"People recognize that criminal justice reform is bipartisan," Lowden said. "Both Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter give me their full blessings."
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jimmy Carter said he supports Lowden's decision.
"I cannot think of anyone better than Tony Lowden to lead a national effort to help those who have served time in prison get a true second chance once they are released," Carter said. "With support and resources, recidivism can decrease, and former inmates can become productive members of their communities. The congregation at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains will help in any way we can."